The outgoing BBC political editor hit out at "intimidation and bullying" of journalists during an appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to promote his latest book Election Diary.

Mr Robinson, who is joining Radio 4's Today programme, was accused of bias in the run up to last year's independence referendum after getting into a high-profile confrontation with former first minister Alex Salmond over the BBC's coverage of a story about the possible relocation of RBS.

The spat at a press conference in Edinburgh resulted in hundreds of pro-independence supporters congregating outside the BBC's Glasgow headquarters to call for his resignation in the days before the vote.

Mr Robinson admitted the episode was "a source of regret" but said: "Alex Salmond was using me to change the subject. Alex Salmond was using me as a symbol, a symbol of the wicked, metropolitan, Westminster classes sent from England, sent from London, in order to tell the Scots what they ought to do.

Yes campaigners protest about the BBC's Nick Robinson.

"As it happens I fell for it. I shouldn't have had the row with him, which I did and I chose a particular phrase we might explore badly in terms of my reporting and that is genuinely a sense of regret.

"But as a serious thought I don't think my offence was sufficient to justify 4,000 people marching on the BBC's headquarters, so that young men and women who are new to journalism have, like they do in Putin's Russia, to fight their way through crowds of protesters, frightened as to how they do their jobs.

"That, you may agree with me or disagree with me, is not how politics should operate either in the UK or in future independent Scotland if there is to be such a thing.

"We should not live with journalists who are intimidated, or bullied, or fearful in any way".

Question -1 of 5Score -0 of 0

Treasure hunters have found a trove of Spanish gold coins in Florida, how much are they worth?